Get Those Fingers Movin'!

Like many people, as a child I took music lessons.  I was so excited when I started.  I remember begging my mom to let me take lessons.  Then as time wore on and the practicing was not as much fun as I had envisioned, the begging changed.  It turned into a battle.  I begged to quit.  My mom begged me to practice.  Finally tired of the fight, my mom agreed to let me stop.


Like many people, I have regrets.  As a child I would have never understood but now I truly wished that I had stuck with it.  Trust me, as a momma myself, I do not hold me mom responsible in any way shape or form for these regrets.  For much of my adulthood I had dreamed of returning to lessons.


Fast forward several years, now I am the momma with the sweet girl begging for lessons.  I put it off as long as I thought I could and then I gave in.  We didn't even own a piano but we found a teacher who agreed to give her some summer lessons on a toy keyboard to try it out.  Perfect!  Two months, not a long term commitment.  Well, would you know it - my sweet baby girl is amazing.  We ended up picking up a better keyboard.  Fast forward two years and I simply can't get over the music she can play.


After we purchased the keyboard, my dream kept nagging at me.  I asked if my daughter's teacher would have room to give me lessons as well.  Taking music lessons as an adult is a whole different ballgame than taking them as a child. I am really enjoying it but at times need an extra little push to practice (and my mom refused to nag at me now).  Enter my IHC personal requirements!  One of my goals this year is to spend 100 hours at the piano.  Sounds like a lot but not if I just keep picking away at it each day (just like every other requirement).


For the last year or so I had been learning these lovely flowing pieces.  Then after Christmas I was marveling to my teacher at the amazing speed in which some of her young students can play.  She went and pulled out this book and asked me if I wanted to learn one of the songs.  I looked at the music.  Didn't look too hard, yet not too easy.  Fantastic!  What I didn't realize is that this piece is to played at light speed!!!  Can you say fast twitch and  coordination (both important kung fu skills)!  I can say it but not fast and not without tripping over my tongue.  Yes, I do stick my tongue out at times.  Each week it gets a little faster and there are less pauses in it but I still have a long way to go to get it to where it is supposed to be. 


This beautiful song is Sonatina in C major, opus 36 number 3 by Clementi.  I did find a very talented young lady who plays it absolutely beautifully on youtube.  After working on this piece for over  3 months, the talent in this child amazes and inspires me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIKiRH-fRx4

Rainbows, Puppies & Kittens! Oh My....



There are so many things about kung fu that I truly enjoy.  Honestly one of my favourites is forms.  I love the structure.  I love that I can slow it down and really pay attention to the details.  I have a love/hate relationship with the fact that there is always something to fix.  Love the challenge, sometime struggle with frustration with myself. 

Then there are things that I have struggled with in kung fu right from the get go.  The number one struggle that I have is the internal harmonies.  I hear the words "now do it full power and full speed" and what you get is the picture below....

Yes, that is me.  I bring puppies, kittens and rainbows to class.  It has been a long standing joke actually.  I saw this picture for the first time a year ago and thought I have to blog about this.  Well a year later, the mental picture has stuck with me.

So what am I doing about it?  I just keep trying.  I think I am starting to make a little head way.  On Monday in class, I was told that my puppy had grown into a lanky teenage pup.  That's a long way from fluffy kittens.  Maybe someday I can be a Rottweiler (as long as I'm not like the one next door that I call kitty - that's just the same fluffiness in a bigger package).

Shaking Up the Routine

Last week I focused on avoiding the "laters" in my life.  My numbers were much better than they have been in weeks.  I could feel the momentum building, good routines forming.  All very exciting stuff.  Then...

SPRING BREAK!!!!

Routines, especially new ones, are such fragile things.  I have already noticed a huge difference in the past couple days having the kids around all day long.  We have filled our days with sunshine and playdates (even one for mama).  It has been great.  I can't say the same for my numbers. 


The issue this week has not been so much the dreaded word "later".  This week the enemy is pure busyness.  It's not that I've been putting off my training.  It hasn't occurred to me to do it, that is until bedtime when I go to record my numbers and I realize how quickly the day has flown by with not much to record.


This issue is about to be compounded with a quick trip to Calgary to visit family.  My routines are going to be completely shot!  I think for this week the plan is squeeze in as much as I can remember to do while I enjoy my family.  Weeks like this are a great reminder of how important incremental progress and consistent action are to ever fragile routines.  It would also have been helpful to have had a little padding on my numbers too but alas, this is not the case. 

It's an Epidemic!

The past couple weeks have had a great deal to ponder.  My numbers have been slipping further and further in a direction that needs to be redirected immediately.  I did have a couple bad days that were a result of illness but not all of my days with blank squares can be attributed to a valid reason.  Bad weeks can be great depending on what you do after them.


So back to the epidemic!  Our goal is mastery or, as Sifu Brinker encourages us to define it, as eliminating mediocrity.  My past couple weeks have been filled with mediocre living.  Our world is full of mediocre living.  It is an epidemic!


In my ponderings, I have discovered what I believe to be the number one public enemy in my life to the elimination of mediocrity.  I have been watching my family - same issue.  Public enemy number one is a simple word, a word we all us each and every day.  "Later....."


I will do my pushups later...  I will do my situps later...  I will practice my forms later...  I will write that blog later...  And on and on it goes...  And that is just my kung fu laters.


So when is later...  I have actually started asking my kids this when they give me that answer.  Lucky for them, they have someone who is starting to figure out this trap.  Don't get me wrong.  Later truly has a place in our lives.  We all have extremely full lives and not a single one of us can do everything we have on our plates right now.  Later is a fact of life.  What is dangerous is when later is left undefined - it just never comes.


So what am I doing with my laters...  I am starting to ask myself the same questions that I've been asking my kids.  First I'm trying to determine if what I am doing in the moment has a valid place in my journey towards mastery and then I'm trying to define when that later will actually happen.  I am waging a war against this epidemic one question, one step at a time.

One Step at a Time...

With the start of a new IHC year comes new goals & new challenges. Personally, the start of this year has not been easy. I am so grateful to have Kung fu. I have used it as a distraction and definitely a coping mechanism lately (my kung fu family is one of my greatest support networks).   Thank you all!

Sifu Brinker asked at the meeting how our weapons forms are going. This year I chose the Tai Chi Broadsword form. I am really enjoying it. It has been really therapeutic and a wonderful change of pace from last year. I think I have most of the moves learned. There is a lot of tweaking left to do but I'm feeling pretty good about where I am at right now.


Now for a funny story...  I actually wrote that last paragraph last week before our IHC class.  At that class I found out that I was indeed doing a form, we just were not sure what form it was...  Many, many thanks go out to Sifu Hayes and Ms. Tomie.  After two more hours of instruction, I believe that I now indeed have most of the moves in the right order and in the right places.

My hand form is a completed different story. The Beckett's recommended Tai He for me this year. It is a very cool form. The learning on this one has been much slower though. It is a completely different style of movement than I am used to and the adjustment is proving to be a challenge.  This has the potential to be it's very own blog post in the near future, so I will leave it be at that.


I also have some interesting personal goals that I am working on.  Right now the biggest personal challenges are in the areas of mending relationships and piano.  Also blog posts for another day.


All that said, I do have a ton going on.  My world has felt very upside down and crazy.  To be honest, since the accident I have felt like I've been living in survival mode most of the time and that is not where dreams are dreamed and achieved.  My numbers this week really reflected that struggle.  Today I will chose to put those not so stellar numbers behind and start fresh - an exercise that I need to do each and every day.  I have some dreams to chase and goals to achieve!

A Life Well Lived

The ups and downs of the past few weeks have given me a lot to think about.  Life is short.  Life is precious.  Life is meant to be lived.


I want to thank all of you for your love and support the past few weeks.  Thank you for your kind words.  Thank you for your hugs.  Thank you for not hugging when it would have been too hard.


My sweet warrior friend Julie had a beautiful end to her story.  Last weekend she was dealt news that she had fought hard to not hear for over five years.  Her beloved husband reached out to a community to grant her one last wish.  The campaign went absolutely viral.  Her final wish was granted.  She was flown home on Wednesday.  The smile on her face as she was photographed in Toronto getting ready to leave spoke volumes.  She made it home that day.  She spent her son's birthday with him.  She was able to visit and be loved on by those closest to her.  Despite her strong will to live, her lungs were not able to keep up with that will.  She breathed her last breath last night.


I was blessed to be able to watch her live every day knowing that each minute is precious.  It is a perspective that those of us who are blessed with our health tend to take for granted.  She loved well.  She made memories. She truly lived. 


Our natural tendency in life seems to be not to realize how fragile our very existence is.  We don't dream.  We don't step out of our comfort zones.  We waste so much time.  This is why I am so grateful that I signed up for the I Ho Chuan program again this year.  If you use the tools that it provides, it helps us fight these natural tendencies.  The road to mastery is really marked by a journey towards truly living fully.

From Seriously??? To Amazed!!!!

I want to start by thanking everyone for all the love and encouragement this past week.  It means more than I can put into words.  Thank you!


Now for this week's blog.  I have two stories to tell.  Both speak to kindness shown by the people in our community.  One is of extreme disappointment, the other leaves me utterly speechless (oh and in tears again)....


Last Tuesday night during rush hour traffic there was a fender bender on 16A on the east end of Spruce Grove.  My husband came upon this accident.  It was not a serious accident.  Normally he would have just driven right on past but that night he noticed that one of the vehicles had been driven by a young woman.  That young woman had two small children.  As he was driving by he saw her struggling to get out her stroller in the middle lane of 16A so that she could hope to corral her little people.  He immediately turned back around and parked his truck behind her car and provided a warm place for her and her children to sit while they waited for the police and everyone else to come.  He was delighted by tales from the older one who happen to be "tree years old".  At the end of it all he drove them home.


While he was sitting there, he noticed how many people drove by.  He noticed the rubber neckers.  What he noticed that bothered him the most was how many people drove by videoing it all on their cell phones.  This was not a spectacular accident, just a fender bender, not video worthy at all.  He was utterly shocked that there was not another one as people made their way past.  Another thing he noticed was who did not stop.  He was driving his company truck.  At least three other trucks from the same company drove by the accident.  It surprised him that people would not stop for a co-worker who may be in need.  When he did finally get home, he was feeling great about how he helped out yet disappointed in others.


Then the emails started the next day.  Not only had the co-workers just driven on past, they had reported the accident at work.  Once Chad explained the real story, he was commended for his actions and thanked.  He is still disappointed in the behaviour of others.


This left me feeling a little jaded and upset as well.  I am super proud to be married to the kind of man who stops when he sees someone in need.  Yet it left me thinking of how often people miss opportunities to show kindness.  His act was not extraordinary, it was just perfectly timed.


This leads me to the second story.  This week my sweet warrior friend was delivered the news that they had all been suspecting but prayed was not true.  Her cancer treatments were ineffective.  Her cancer has continued to spread.  There is nothing more that the medical community can do for her except help keep her as comfortable as possible for the time she has left, which they do not suspect is long.  Their hearts desire was to not have to spend that time in Toronto.  Her number one dying wish is to come back home to die.  In order to do this, she would need a medivac which seemed beyond what they could afford.  Her husband reached out to our community through a GoFundMe campaign to ask for some assistance with the costs.  The response in the short 24 hours that it has been live has been nothing short of amazing.  The love that this community has shown this amazing family is beyond what anyone had hoped.  Her campaign has gone viral.  Complete strangers have been moved by her story and are giving.  They now have all the money they need to bring her home.  I am just waiting to hear that she is on her way.  The hope is that they can give their son the ultimate birthday present - a huge hug from his mama.  His seventh birthday is tomorrow.


I encourage each of you to go to the GoFundMe page.  I am not asking you to give.  I am asking you to read her story told by her husband.  He tells the story of love, commitment, struggle, fight and heartbreak in ways that only someone who has walked this story can.  Julie is an amazing warrior.  She has blessed everyone who has had the opportunity to be around her.  Her smile, her zeal for life, her heart for others despite her own battles is inspiring.  In a world of mediocrity, she shines out as someone who has stood in constant battle to live a life of meaning and purpose.  Her story is amazing and I feel blessed to call her a friend. 


https://www.gofundme.com/juliecrawford